Wandering through a meadow is one of my favourite things to do, and we've been lucky enough to live in and amongst meadows for the last twenty or so years. In Suffolk it's very easy to spend most of the time looking up at the huge skies but this year I'm going to focus on exploring what's closer to hand/eye. I'm going to hunt down the amazing micro-palettes in the blades of grass, the berries, the fence posts and field gates, and create shades that show another aspect of the fields all around us. I'm going to be looking at the textures and detail up close but most of all, I'm hunting for fabulous colour combinations to inspire beautiful yarn! Each month I'll use one photo to create two shades; one variegated ~flash~ shade and a complimentary/contrasting semi-solid. I'll be focussing on fingering/4ply weight yarn and often the two shades will be on the same base but occasionally I might take liberties and dye something fluffy! August – the hot, dry weather continues, albeit lately with just the hint of an occasional thunderstorm and brief spells of rain but still the earth is parched, the meadow is all the shades of beige, yellow, and brown and the palette is one of soft earthy neutrals. I've been photographing hares in the corn stubble, swallows soaring against a vibrant blue sky, but it was a patch of 'weeds' amongst the footpath margin that caught my eye for this month's macro~meadow shades. I think it's 'horseweed' – Erigeron canadensis – a common invasive 'weed' in the UK that like lots of other uncultivated plants has continued to thrive in the drought conditions. Our parched brown grass is still dotted with deep green dock leaves and the field margins sport yarrow, willowherb and thistles galore! Glancing down at the patch of horseweed the beautiful seed heads, like tiny ethereal brittle stars, were bathed in soft sunlight, slowing almost pink and framed by the softest celadon stems and leaves. Both shades are dyed on pightle | fingering, our go-to fingering weiught superwash merino yarn with 400m per 100g skein – fabulous for lightweight garments and accessories, we especially love this yarn for shawls... We use professional acid dyes with good light and wash fastness and do our best to exhaust every dye bath and reuse water wherever possible to reduce any further environmental impact. Occasionally a small amount of 'loose' dye may remain in the yarn after rinsing (most likely with deeply saturated shades) and we always recommend hand washing in very cool water and pre-washing your yarn separately if you are intending to mix light and dark shades in a single garment/project. We recommend hand washing your finished projects in cool water to preserve the vibrancy of the dye and, as with all small-batch, hand-dyed yarn that doesn't have dye lots, we also recommend knitting alternate rows from two skeins when working on larger projects to avoid noticeable changes between skeins. pightle | fingering weight: fingering/4ply fibre: 100% wool - superwash merino needle size: 2.75 - 3.75 mm (depending on gauge required) metres: 400m per 100gm skein care: Hand wash in cold water using gentle wool detergent
hiding in the horsetail – pightle | fingering (100g), in the morning light – pightle | fingering (100g)